''Blum Affair'' (german: Affaire Blum) is a 1948 German

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Erich Engel Erich Gustav Otto Engel (14 February 1891 – 10 May 1966) was a German film and theatre director.He is often confused with another German film director called Erich Engels, who specialised in comedy, and crime films. Biography Engel was ...

and starring

Hans Christian Blech Hans Christian Blech (20 February 19155 March 1993) was a German film, stage and television character actor who found success in both Germany and Hollywood. He made his English film debut in the 1951 picture ''Decision Before Dawn''. In this and ...

Ernst Waldow Ernst Waldow (22 August 1893 – 5 June 1964) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 160 films during his career. Selected filmography * ''Rübezahl's Wedding'' (1916) * '' Sin of a Beautiful Woman'' (1929) *''The Green Domino'' (1935 ...

and

Karin Evans Karin Evans (1907–2004) was a South African-born German stage and film actress. Evans was born in Johannesburg to one British and one German parent. In 1923 she moved to Berlin to study theatre, and began performing in the stage productions of M ...

. It is based on a real 1926 case in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

in which a German Jewish industrialist is tried for murder. The film was produced in the future

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

and produced by

DEFA DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PRO ...

. It was shot at the

Babelsberg Studios Babelsberg Film Studio (german: Filmstudio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film (est. 1906), producing films since ...

and Althoff Studios in the Soviet zone. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Emil Hasler Emil Hasler (November 8, 1901 – January 15, 1986) was a German art director who worked on more than a hundred films during his career. These included a number of Weimar classics such as ''Diary of a Lost Girl, M'' and ''The Blue Angel''.Prawe ...

Cast

as Karlheinz Gabler *

as Kriminalkommissar Schwerdtfeger *

Paul Bildt Paul Hermann Bildt (19 May 1885 – 13 March 1957) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1910 and 1956. He was born and died in Berlin, Germany. Selected filmography * ''Devil in Silk'' (1956) * ''Ich suche Di ...

as Untersuchungsrichter Konrat *

as Sabine Blum *

Helmuth Rudolph Helmuth Rudolph (1900–1971) was a German actor. Selected filmography * ''So Ended a Great Love'' (1934) * ''The Last Waltz'' (1934) * '' Blum Affair'' (1948) * '' Blocked Signals'' (1948) * ''Love '47'' (1949) * ''The Prisoner'' (1949) * ''Don' ...

as Wilschinsky - Regierungspräsident *

Alfred Schieske Alfred Schieske (6 September 1908 – 14 July 1970) was a German actor. Career Schieske was born in Stuttgart, the son of a German father and a French mother. He studied acting with Willy Reichert made his stage debut at the Staatstheater Stut ...

as Kriminalkommissar Otto Bonte *

Gisela Trowe Gisela Trowe (5 September 1922 in Dortmund – 5 April 2010 in Hamburg) was a German actress and voice actress. Selected filmography * 1948: '' Street Acquaintances'' * 1948: ''The Time with You'' * 1948: ' * 1948: '' Affaire Blum'' * 1951: ' ...

as Christina Burman * Kurt Ehrhardt as Dr. Jakob Blum *

Gerhard Bienert Gerhard Max Richard Bienert (8 January 1898 – 23 December 1986) was a German stage and film actor. Gerhard Bienert was born in Berlin, Germany and died in the same city in 1986 at age 88. Selected filmography * ''Duke Ferrante's End'' (1922) * ...

as Karl Bremer *

Herbert Hübner Herbert Hübner (6 February 1889 – 27 January 1972) was a German stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 150 films between 1921 and 1966. He was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) and died in Munich, Germany. Selected fil ...

as Landgerichtsdirektor Hecht * Friedrich Maurer as Lawyer Dr. Gerhard Wormser *

Klaus Becker Klaus Becker (born February 4, 1953 in Marburg, Germany) is a German/American businessman, working in the steel industry. Early life and education Klaus Becker was born in Marburg, Germany in 1953 and grew up in Dortmund, where his father wor ...

as Hans Fischer - Gutsvolontär *

Arno Paulsen Arno Paulsen (1900–1969) was a German actor who appeared in around sixty films in the post-Second World War years. He also appeared frequently on stage and was also a voice actor dubbing foreign films for release in Germany. He appeared in a mix ...

as Wilhelm Platzer * Hilde Adolphi as Alma - das 'süße' Mädchen *

Maly Delschaft Martha Amalia "Maly" Delschaft (4 December 1898 – 20 August 1995) was a German stage and film actress. After beginning in theatre, Delschaft switched to silent films. She appeared in mainly supporting roles during the Weimar and Nazi eras. After ...

as Anna Platzer * Hugo Kalthoff as Kriminalassistent Lorenz *

Blandine Ebinger Blandine Ebinger (born Blandine Loeser) (4 November 1899, in Berlin – 25 December 1993, in Berlin) was a German actress and ''chansonniere''. Career Ebinger became acquainted with Friedrich Hollaender in 1919, and with him she became heavi ...

as Lucie Schmerschneider *

Reinhard Kolldehoff Reinhard Kolldehoff (29 April 1914 – 18 November 1995) was a German film actor. He appeared in 140 films between 1941 and 1988. He was born and died in Berlin, Germany. Selected filmography * '' The Gasman'' (1941) - Polizeibeamter (uncr ...

as Max Tischbein - Lehrer *

Emmy Burg Emmy Burg (1903–1982) was a German film and television actress.Rentschler p.326 Selected filmography * '' The Beaver Coat'' (1949) * ''Homesick for You'' (1952) * '' Bon Voyage'' (1954) * ''The Witch'' (1954) * ''Before God and Man'' (1955) * ...

as Therese *

Renée Stobrawa Renée Stobrawa (born Renate Stobrawa; 13 October 1897 in Dresden – 16 August 1971 in Tegernsee) was a German screenwriter and film actress. Partial filmography * ''The Mistress and her Servant'' (1929) - Frau Matjunke * '' Melody of the Worl ...

as Frieda Bremer * Jean Brahn as Fritz Merkel *

Albert Venohr Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Albert ...

as Waffenhändler * Gertrud Boll as Dienstmädchen bei Dr. Blum *

Otto Matthies Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded f ...

as Reporter * Herbert Malsbender as Redakteur *

Werner Peters Werner Peters (7 July 1918 – 30 March 1971) was a German film actor. He appeared in 102 films between 1947 and 1971. Biography Peters was born in Werlitzsch, Kreis Delitzsch, Prussian Saxony, and died of a heart attack on a promotion tou ...

as Egon Konrad *

Margarete Schön Margarete Schön (born Margarethe Schippang; 7 April 1895 – 26 December 1985) was a German stage and film actress whose career spanned nearly fifty years. She is internationally recognized for her role as Kriemhild in director Fritz Lang's ''Die ...

as Sophie Konrad * Eva Bodden as Sekretärin bei Wilschninsky *

Arthur Schröder Arthur Schröder (20 February 1892 – 4 February 1986) was a German actor. Selected filmography * '' The Queen's Love Letter'' (1916) * '' Cain'' (1918) * '' Mania'' (1918) * '' Just Once a Great Lady'' (1934) * '' Hubertus Castle'' (1934) * '' ...

as Landtagsabgeordneter von Hinkeldey * Richard Drosten as Zahnarzt *

Lili Schoenborn-Anspach ''Lili'' is a 1953 American film released by MGM. It stars Leslie Caron as a touchingly naïve French girl whose emotional relationship with a carnival puppeteer is conducted through the medium of four puppets. The film won the Academy Award for ...

as Patientin * Margarete Salbach as Ruth Tischbein

Reception

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

, critic for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', praised it as "a trenchant dramatic exposition of the way in which an innocent German Jew is almost destroyed by nascent Nazis—back in 1926." The film sold more than 4,330,000 tickets, making it one of DEFA's all-time most successful productions.List of the 50 highest-grossing DEFA films.
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References

External links

* 1948 films 1948 drama films German drama films East German films 1940s German-language films German black-and-white films German courtroom films Drama films based on actual events Films directed by Erich Engel Films set in the 1920s Films about Jews and Judaism Films about antisemitism 1940s German films Films shot at Althoff Studios Films shot at Babelsberg Studios {{1940s-Germany-film-stub